Accession Number
2007/2.80

Title
Woman in Negligee

Artist(s)
George Grosz

Artist Nationality
German (culture or style)

Medium & Support
brush and ink on wove paper

Dimensions
15 in. x 7 1/2 in. ( 38.1 cm x 19.05 cm )

Credit Line
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection

Label copy
George Grosz
Germany, 1893–1959
Reclining Nude (Liegenden Akt)
1915
Ink on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.119
George Grosz
Germany, 1893–1959
Woman in Negligee
Brush and ink on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.80
In these two drawings by George Grosz, one can compare how one Expressionist’s study of the figure relates to the development of his formal style. In Woman in Negligee Grosz pushes the contour line of his figure studies to the point of caricature and satire by removing all shading and hints at depth.
While Grosz shares the emphasis on line and the human figure of the Expressionists, he is also often characterized as part of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) reaction that followed Expressionism in the 1920s. Neue Sachlichkeit artists presented what could be considered a “hard realism” in contrast to the highly idealized and poetic forms of Expressionist artists. Grosz’s work can often be viewed through both lenses.

Subject matter
Smiling prostitute in see-through negligee looks at viewer while pulling up her left stocking.

Physical Description
Smiling woman, slightly hunched and looking out at viewer, in see-through negligee pulling up her left stocking.

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Primary Object Type
preparatory drawing

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
prostitutes
underwear
woman